Best LED Setup for 3'X2' Box

Hi Guys!

Simple question: I'm starting a grow in a small box (2' deep X 3'long X 5' high) and purchased a Mars Hydro 300 watt light. After doing some reading, I found the manufacturer states that the light covers 1.5'X1.5' footprint during flowering. Since my box is 3'X2', I decided to buy a second light so that my girls can get good coverage, but I'm seeing other people use a single 300W light with great results on multiple plants... so here's the question, was I out of my mind for grabbing two of these lamps or will the extra 300W benefit me enough to justify the expense?

I wrote a longer version of my grow closet plan here for those who want to get in-depth: http://rollitup.org/t/autoflower-grow-under-300-watt-mars-leds.922737/

If you have it use it. If you can return one and sell the other do it.

Then buy one of these and call it a day:
https://northerngrowlights.com/collections/all/products/photon-180v-led-grow-light?variant=17106091204

Mars Hydro is generally regarded as being complete dogshit. 300w at the wall is the important distinction to make here, I'd be surprised if you're actually getting 150w on your plants from that light.

No one here will tell you to buy another Mars Hydro light. You see DIY videos on this sub of people making stuff with their broken Mars lights (reusing the case) if that gives you any idea how long they last.

case and point

For the price you paid for the 2 Mars lights you will likely pay them off in your first grow. Even if you only get 100-150w out of each light, that's more than enough wattage for your space. You might not have the penetration of better quality lights, or as full of a spectrum but you can always throw a bulb or two in your tent to complete the spectrum better. I've seen many threads of people posting pics of pretty decent buds grown under a Mars light and although there are lots of better options, they will grow your plants just fine considering what you paid for them.

I actually have a buddy using something almost identical to you. He tries to grow 2 plants in his 2'x3' tent with the light in the middle of both plants. I keep telling him to either grow one plant and put it directly under his light or get another light so both plants can have a light over it. One thing you might have issue's with is the heat generated by two of those lights so make sure you have adequate air-flow to get that heat out.

Like another person said, if and when those lights stop functioning you can always re-purpose them and build your first cob lights which will be a nice upgrade over those Mars lights.

Danielson999 said:

For the price you paid for the 2 Mars lights you will likely pay them off in your first grow. Even if you only get 100-150w out of each light, that's more than enough wattage for your space. You might not have the penetration of better quality lights, or as full of a spectrum but you can always throw a bulb or two in your tent to complete the spectrum better. I've seen many threads of people posting pics of pretty decent buds grown under a Mars light and although there are lots of better options, they will grow your plants just fine considering what you paid for them.

I actually have a buddy using something almost identical to you. He tries to grow 2 plants in his 2'x3' tent with the light in the middle of both plants. I keep telling him to either grow one plant and put it directly under his light or get another light so both plants can have a light over it. One thing you might have issue's with is the heat generated by two of those lights so make sure you have adequate air-flow to get that heat out.

Like another person said, if and when those lights stop functioning you can always re-purpose them and build your first cob lights which will be a nice upgrade over those Mars lights.

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Hey Danielson999! Thanks for actually answering the question instead of doing the whole "I hate this brand/I love that brand" bullshit we see a lot on the board. I'm glad for the reassurance and that the 2 lights seem to be the better option.Someday when I have a bigger, better space & budget, I'll upgrade to some name-brand. For now, I'ma try these out and see how it goes!

Majikoopa said:

Hey Danielson999! Thanks for actually answering the question instead of doing the whole "I hate this brand/I love that brand" bullshit we see a lot on the board. I'm glad for the reassurance and that the 2 lights seem to be the better option.Someday when I have a bigger, better space & budget, I'll upgrade to some name-brand. For now, I'ma try these out and see how it goes!

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Obviously you should do whatever makes you happy, but just so you know it is not really about the name of the brand, but more about the components used in the light. As mentioned the Mars will grow a plant, but it will do it rather inefficiently because it uses very cheap parts.I see both sides of your argument, but I agree with @Evil-Mobo more than the other guy. If you can get any light with a decent COB in it you will be happy for years. Why buy twice? Good luck anyway amigo

The Hydro 300w is 140w actual, so two of them will still be under 300w. Returning them is an option or maybe do a grow with them and see if you're happy with the temps and yield.

TastyLED makes a light for a 2x3 area. https://www.tastyled.com/product-p/t3-2100.htm

Majikoopa said:

Hey Danielson999! Thanks for actually answering the question instead of doing the whole "I hate this brand/I love that brand" bullshit we see a lot on the board. I'm glad for the reassurance and that the 2 lights seem to be the better option.Someday when I have a bigger, better space & budget, I'll upgrade to some name-brand. For now, I'ma try these out and see how it goes!

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Yeah I hear you. The good news is that if you do a grow with these and decide to sell them they will probably sell easily because they are cheap. Of course everyone wants the best but sometimes with a hobby you gotta start out cheap and so be it. Not everybody has $400 or more to throw at some lights. I would guess you can get get close to 4 ounces with 2 of those lights in that small tent, more if you're a good gardener.

Majikoopa said:

Hey Danielson999! Thanks for actually answering the question instead of doing the whole "I hate this brand/I love that brand" bullshit

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Sounds like you just want a pat on the back for making not just a mistake but two big Mars sized mistakes.

MrTwist1 said:

Obviously you should do whatever makes you happy, but just so you know it is not really about the name of the brand, but more about the components used in the light. As mentioned the Mars will grow a plant, but it will do it rather inefficiently because it uses very cheap parts.I see both sides of your argument, but I agree with @Evil-Mobo more than the other guy. If you can get any light with a decent COB in it you will be happy for years. Why buy twice? Good luck anyway amigo

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This is exactly what I'm getting at with my post. Kind of hilarious that you interpreted it as brand love/hate, because this is not what I'm trying to convey. What I'm trying to convey is that you've sunk a ton of money in a light that will probably blow diodes within a year. Why? You blow diodes or a driver in that light and you're SOL, it's now a new shoplight or chucked in the garbage. Make your own light and you can fix a blown COB, or a blown driver! This is a solution that truly will last you years and years.

Just my wasted 2 cents, as it sounds like you want to hear that it's all good and you didn't make a mistake. You will crop out, but make no mistake, two Mars lights will not be a sound investment.

Seriousbuds said:

Sounds like you just want a pat on the back for making not just a mistake but two big Mars sized mistakes.


What I'm trying to convey is that you've sunk a ton of money in a light that will probably blow diodes within a year.

Just my wasted 2 cents, as it sounds like you want to hear that it's all good and you didn't make a mistake. You will crop out, but make no mistake, two Mars lights will not be a sound investment.

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He spent $70 on a Mars light. How is that a 'ton of money'??? To be honest, you came in here and called his light dogshit and it sounds more like you're the one who wants a pat on the back for telling someone how stupid they are for wanting to spend as little as possible to get into this hobby. You're right, you did waste your 2 cents but only because instead of being positive, answering his questions and telling him that since he's already got them, see how they perform and share your results with everyone....you decided to call his lights dogshit and told him he made a massive mistake. This forum doesn't need people trying to convert everyone into a cob system, it needs people productively helping others understand what they are doing. Even if the guy spent $140 on two of his Mars lights, he can pay his dogshit lights off with one grow.
The guy came in here stating he already bought the lights and needed advice about whether his tent will benefit from the extra coverage 2 lights offer. Instead of anyone answering the guys question most just came in here to tell him his lights suck and he needs to convert to cobs. You see the stupidity in it?

Grow with those mars panels,, you will make your money back on the first harvest,,, if you desire to upgrade later,, so be it,, but you will make every penny back on the first grow,
and that is the key point ,, grow,, grow grow,, harvest and enjoy the fruits of your labor,,,,and good fruits it is too

Danielson999 said:

He spent $70 on a Mars light. How is that a 'ton of money'??? To be honest, you came in here and called his light dogshit and it sounds more like you're the one who wants a pat on the back for telling someone how stupid they are for wanting to spend as little as possible to get into this hobby. You're right, you did waste your 2 cents but only because instead of being positive, answering his questions and telling him that since he's already got them, see how they perform and share your results with everyone....you decided to call his lights dogshit and told him he made a massive mistake. This forum doesn't need people trying to convert everyone into a cob system, it needs people productively helping others understand what they are doing. Even if the guy spent $140 on two of his Mars lights, he can pay his dogshit lights off with one grow.
The guy came in here stating he already bought the lights and needed advice about whether his tent will benefit from the extra coverage 2 lights offer. Instead of anyone answering the guys question most just came in here to tell him his lights suck and he needs to convert to cobs. You see the stupidity in it?

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Actually, his last question was if he was out of his mind for buying two of these lights. I answered his question.

Seriousbuds said:

Actually, his last question was if he was out of his mind for buying two of these lights. I answered his question.

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Actually that was the only question posed!

MrTwist1 said:

Actually that was the only question posed!

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Yeah, and if you use reading comprehension you'll see that he was asking if he was crazy to buy the 2 lights because it might be overkill for his area since he was seeing others in the forum using 300w in the same size area. He wasn't asking if he was crazy because the lights aren't as high a quality as cobs or other lights. Some of you failed to even understand his question which is probably why you never even answered it.

Danielson999 said:

Yeah, and if you use reading comprehension you'll see that he was asking if he was crazy to buy the 2 lights because it might be overkill for his area since he was seeing others in the forum using 300w in the same size area. He wasn't asking if he was crazy because the lights aren't as high a quality as cobs or other lights. Some of you failed to even understand his question which is probably why you never even answered it.

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The answer still stands. Yes he was out of his mind to buy a 2nd Mars light when he could have bought something much better.

Clearly the OP did just want a pat on the back for his decision, and that's fine. You made him feel like he did not make a mistake, so all is good in the universe.

The forum exists for people to seek and share expertise in many forms... including which lights are good and which are bad. Get over it and stop being so confrontational. Cheers

Majikoopa says: so here's the question, was I out of my mind for grabbing two of these lamps or will the extra 300W benefit me enough to justify the expense?

To answer your question, the 300w light you refer to is actually drawing 140w so it's likely less powerful than you might think, especially if you're comparing it to a 300w cob system which is much more efficient. Using 2 of those lights to get 280 watts in 6sq ft gives you over 40w per sq ft which is excellent although the Mars lights don't have quite the penetration cobs do it will still give you excellent coverage in that space. Don't forget that you will have over 300 heat watts dissipating into your small tent so ventilation is likely going to be something you should keep an eye on. Having seen this exact light at work in a 2'x3' tent I can definitely say that having 2 is basically necessary if you want to get coverage across your grow area since they have a fairly small footprint just as Mars states when they tell you it's got a 1.5'x1.5ft footprint during flowering. Mars definitely aren't the best quality lights to use but they are cheap. Make sure you come back and post some pics of your grow so others can learn from it...good or bad.

See how easy that was?

MrTwist1 said:

The answer still stands. Yes he was out of his mind to buy a 2nd Mars light when he could have bought something much better.

Clearly the OP did just want a pat on the back for his decision, and that's fine. You made him feel like he did not make a mistake, so all is good in the universe.

The forum exists for people to seek and share expertise in many forms... including which lights are good and which are bad. Get over it and stop being so confrontational. Cheers

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What you fail to understand is that it's you and the other guy who are confrontational. He wasn't asking if he was out of his mind buying Mars lights, use reading comprehension and understand that he was asking if he was out of his mind for buying 2 lights for his small tent. It had nothing to do with the brand but YOU made it all about the brand by being confrontational about it. Learn from your mistakes man, it's simple. Be positive and come here to help people or learn from others. You do RIU no justice by calling someone's light dogshit or telling him to sell what he's bought and spend 3 or 4 times as much money on something better. If you simply took the time to understand what the OP was asking, nobody would have even mentioned whether Mars are dogshit or not, they simply would have told him that he needed that second light to get proper coverage.

Danielson999 said:

What you fail to understand is that it's you and the other guy who are confrontational. He wasn't asking if he was out of his mind buying Mars lights, use reading comprehension and understand that he was asking if he was out of his mind for buying 2 lights for his small tent. It had nothing to do with the brand but YOU made it all about the brand by being confrontational about it. Learn from your mistakes man, it's simple. Be positive and come here to help people or learn from others. You do RIU no justice by calling someone's light dogshit or telling him to sell what he's bought and spend 3 or 4 times as much money on something better. If you simply took the time to understand what the OP was asking, nobody would have even mentioned whether Mars are dogshit or not, they simply would have told him that he needed that second light to get proper coverage.

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The thread is titled best LED setup for 3x2 so please forgive us evil souls for trying suggest what might be best for a 3x2 haha we are so evil trying to guide people towards the best lighting. Pure evil I say.

Lol Ok you didn't make a massive mistake buying shit lights and you're gonna be really stoked with them dude. Have fun with that. I provide lots of useful info on here and it is normally well received... clearly you are not ready to hear the truth. I couldn't care less. Have a great day with that attitude

I wouldn't call it evil, I'd just call it stupid. If you can't comprehend his question then I guess you're too stupid to answer it. I appreciate the fact you try to help people in RIU but obviously in this thread you totally failed to offer any advice at all and completely disregarded his question and instead decided it was time to tell him he should just get other lights. Anyway, you don't get the point..just like you didn't understand his question so let's just agree to disagree and stop wasting people's time. At least his question got answered...it just wasn't by you.

Danielson999 said:

I wouldn't call it evil, I'd just call it stupid. If you can't comprehend his question then I guess you're too stupid to answer it. I appreciate the fact you try to help people in RIU but obviously in this thread you totally failed to offer any advice at all and completely disregarded his question and instead decided it was time to tell him he should just get other lights. Anyway, you don't get the point..just like you didn't understand his question so let's just agree to disagree and stop wasting people's time. At least his question got answered...it just wasn't by you.

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If you could read better you would see that I did not actually answer his question, I just clarified some things that he misunderstood from another poster. So quit being so rude and go suck a bag of dicks. Loser